


stars in your eyes (happy birthday, keith!!)

by lulumina



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Allura isn't dead, Birthday, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Happy Birthday Keith (Voltron), I couldn't help myself, Kissing, M/M, Post-Canon, Post-War, because how could i not, but hey that's okay because it's for fun, i just now realise that this is the second fic i've written where klance ends up on a roof, i wrote all of this at one am on a school night, it hasn't been beta read, it's my boy's birthday!!!, minor alcohol mention, minor injury mention, or really edited at all, so i had to leave hibernation and write SOMEthing for him, the way it should be, there's some cheesy stuff near the end sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-24
Updated: 2019-10-24
Packaged: 2021-01-02 06:29:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21157142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lulumina/pseuds/lulumina
Summary: Lance plans a surprise party for Keith's birthday, and finds a convenient time to sneak off and stargaze on the roof.Rated G for minor violence mention and very minor alcohol mention.





	stars in your eyes (happy birthday, keith!!)

**Author's Note:**

> it's my boy's birthday today!!!! well technically an hour and forty seven minutes ago, my timezone. i started writing this when i should have been in bed so... oops. 
> 
> anyway, enjoy! please leave a comment or a kudos to let me know what you think- i always love hearing from you guys!!! <3

Keith walked up the stairs to his apartment, his mind filled with thoughts of the day. His students at the Garrison had weaseled out of Lance that it was Keith’s birthday (more accurately, Lance had told them the exact date and encouraged them to sing “Happy Birthday” for him very loudly so the entire building could hear.) The kids all made a huge birthday card and even chipped in for a gift card to his favorite Korean restaurant. The gesture was touching, and even thinking about it made Keith smile. 

After his dad died, he hadn’t had a real birthday celebration until his time with Shiro. Adam would bake a huge chocolate cake and all three of them would eat it while playing card games and opening presents. Even aboard the castle ship, Shiro tried to keep the tradition alive, looping in every paladin, teaching them the card games and enlisting Hunk to bake a cake. Even after the war, the traditional carried on. This year, though, everyone had something going on- Romelle, Allura, and Coran were wrapped up in royal duties on New Altea, Shiro and Adam had their hands full with Stella, Hunk was visiting family in Samoa, Pidge was needed in the Garrison’s tech department. Shiro had promised that they would reschedule for a later date, when it worked for everyone. 

Tonight, however, Keith was looking forward to an easy night with Lance, dinner and a movie at home. Lance would probably tease him about his students singing to him, then he would fawn over the card and probably try to jokingly steal the gift card. Keith smiled at the thought. 

He reached the apartment door and fished around his carabiner for the right key, then slipped it in the lock and pushed the door open to a dark apartment. 

Funny… Lance had left the Garrison earlier, claiming he had some grading to do before their night began. So why wasn’t he here? Even Kosmo’s trademark pitter-patter of claws couldn’t be heard. 

Before Keith could call out his husband’s name, the lights flickered on and he was met with a chorus of “Surprise!” as figures leaped out from behind chairs and tables. 

Keith let out a yelp and stumbled backwards, instinctively attempting to activate his nonexistent bayard. After a moment, he registered that there wasn’t anyone out to get him- Lance had planned a surprise party. 

“Jesus, you guys!” He huffed, clutching his chest. “You’re lucky I didn’t have my sword, or else you’d be Weblum bait right about now.” 

Lance was the first to crash into him with a hug, followed by everyone else piling on.. “Happy birthday, Mullet!” He crowed. “You should have seen the look on your face!” 

“It was quite funny,” a familiar voice laughed as everyone separated.. Keith glanced over Lance’s shoulder to see none other than Allura, hands pressed together excitedly. 

“Allura! I thought you were on New Altea?”

Allura smiled. “I couldn’t miss your birthday! Besides, the advisors are managing just fine without their queens.” she nudged a laughing Romelle. 

“Not as fine as they would be without me, but they’re competent all the same!” Coran cut in, eyes twinkling.

“Wait, but you said-”

“We were lying! None of us actually had anything going on,” Hunk beamed. “Bet you didn’t expect this, huh?”

Actually, Keith hadn’t. But he didn’t care- it was so nice to see his closest friends all together, a rare occasion thanks to their busy schedules.

“Happy birthday, Uncle Keef!” a small voice said from below. Keith glanced down and saw Stella smiling toothily at him. 

“Thanks, Stel!” Keith bent down and wrapped her in a hug. When they separated, she grabbed his hand and placed a painted rock inside. Upon closer examination, Keith could see that it was a crude rendition of a red lion head. His heart melted. 

“I made that for you in class today!” Stella proclaimed. “You’re old now, so my teacher said you would like a house decoration.” 

Keith could hear Lance chuckle. Keith smiled and tucked the rock in his pocket. “I’ll treasure it with my life,” he said seriously, putting on the straightest face he could muster. Stella giggled and ran back to where Shiro and Adam were standing. 

Keith straightened back up and looked at his friends, unable to keep the grin off his face. “It’s great to see all of you.”

“What are we doing just standing here?” Pidge asked. “Hunk made cake!” She led the march into the kitchen, where a cake was indeed perched on the table, three layers tall and topped with swirled chocolate icing. Coran struggled with the match, before Hunk relieved him of lighting duty and swiftly lit the candles. Romelle switched the lights off and the flames illuminated everyone’s faces in a flickering yellow glow. 

Lance grabbed Keith’s hand and led the group in the happy birthday song. Near the ending strains, Keith shut his eyes tight and made a silent wish, then blew out the candles in one breath. An eruption of cheers broke out across the table, and Hunk began serving heaping slices of cake. 

Kosmo attempted to nab people’s plates more than once, and finally Keith gave in and slipped him a slice. He was a cosmic wolf, after all- a bit of cake wouldn’t hurt him.

Halfway through eating, Romelle discovered Keith’s old _ The Black Parade  _ CD, which she asked innocently about, met with a round of thorough roasting towards Keith (mostly from Hunk, Pidge, and Lance.) 

Romelle genuinely wanted to listen to it, so Keith begrudgingly agreed. 

After the cake was demolished, everyone gathered in the living room and simply talked. There was a lot to catch up on- Romelle, Allura, and Coran’s lives on New Altea were busy, rebuilding a broken empire and rehabilitating victims of Lotor’s ill-fated quintessence experiments with help from the Holts. Hunk told some wild stories of his diplomacy missions, a handful of which included mistranslated greetings and one dinner of nothing but uncooked Weblum muscle tissue. 

Coran broke out a deck of Altean playing cards to teach the group some new games he had learned on New Altea, and Shiro piped in to share some of his favorite Earth card games. Stella began to get sleepy, and Adam put her to bed into the spare bedroom before rejoining the group. Later, someone brought out a bottle of nunvil- by then, Keith’s energy had begun to dip. Granted, he could handle more interaction time than he could when he was younger, but even he had his limits. Lance noticed him starting to fade out of the conversation, and leaned into his shoulder. 

“I have one more surprise for you,” he whispered. 

Keith narrowed his eyes suspiciously. 

“I promise it’s not what you’re thinking.”

“Should I be disappointed, then?” 

Lance chuckled and stood up, then helped Keith to his feet. Romelle, squeezed into a chair next to Allura (whose face was considerably pink thanks to the drinks,) gave a little wave as they removed themselves from the circle. Keith and Lance both returned the wave with a grin.

“Meet me in the hallway, okay? I have to grab something,” Lance said. 

Keith nodded and made his exit. In the hallway, the laughs and chatter from inside was muffled. He loved being with his friends, but being alone was the only way to recharge his battery. By now, they knew that about him, and were used to him slipping away and returning a bit later. 

After a few moments, Lance joined him with something hidden behind his back. 

“What’s that?” Keith asked nonchalantly. 

Lance tsked. “You’ll see, you’ll see. Just take my hand and close your eyes, I’ll tell you when to open them.”

Keith huffed, but shut his eyes tight and let Lance lead the way, a guiding hand on the small of his back all the while. His grip was warm and smooth, save for the raised scars on the back of his hand from their time in space. He traced the lines gently with his thumb, and Lance squeezed his hand lightly in response. Lance led him up a few flights of stairs, not without a stumble or two- he then heard a door open, and a cool breeze washed over his face. 

“Don’t open your eyes yet!” Lance warned. 

“Are we on the roof? I swear to God, Sharpshooter, if you push me off I’m never talking to you again.” 

“Don’t worry! I won’t let you fall,” Lance reassured him. He led Keith down a slight incline. After a few steps, Lance laced his fingers through Keith’s and squeezed. 

“Okay. Open them.” 

Keith opened his eyes and blinked a few times to adjust to the darkness. Through the pale moonlight, he could see a blanket spread across the shingles, a handful of pillows scattered along the edges, and most breathtakingly- a sky full of glittering stars. They blinked out at him from the heavens, a brushstroke of astral brilliance across a canvas of midnight blue. No matter how many times Keith flew into space, he was always left breathless by the night sky. Its vastness and beauty had no natural comparison. 

Keith turned his gaze to Lance, meaning to thank him, but found the words lost somewhere in his throat. Lance’s face was turned to the sky, eyes closed, basking in the soft starlight. His lips were open slightly, the corners of his mouth turned up. Keith felt a smile playing on his own face, a warm feeling spreading through his chest.

Lance, seemingly aware of Keith’s stare, slowly opened his eyes and met Keith’s gaze. The stars glimmered in Lance’s eyes, the eyes that could hold so much love, joy and strength, all without breaking from the sheer amount of feeling one person could experience. Before meeting Lance, Keith would have thought that one person couldn’t possibly contain that much life, that much  _ love _ for life and everything it entails. After meeting Lance, and falling in love, and everything that came after, Keith knew that there were a rare few who could handle it- and Lance was one of them. Who would have known Keith would be so lucky?

Without thinking, Keith reached up and tucked a strand of hair behind Lance’s ear, skimming his cheek along the way. Lance caught Keith’s hand in his, pressing it gently against his face. Keith moved closer, allowing their noses to brush against each other. Keith could feel Lance’s soft exhales on his cheek, warm and comforting. Before he knew it, their lips met. It was gentle, Lance’s other hand slowly threading through Keith’s loose hair, Keith wrapping an arm around Lance’s waist to bring him closer. 

Keith gave a light nip to Lance’s lower lip, and Lance smiled against Keith’s mouth, seemingly unable to help himself. Keith smiled too, which soon bubbled into a laugh. 

“What?” he asked, pressing his forehead against Lance’s. 

“Nothing,” Lance giggled. “Just that I set up that whole blanket-pillow dealio for us to use and probably make out on, and now we’re just kissing, standing on the roof, and if we get too into it we’re probably going to fall off by accident.”

“Fine, so let’s move onto the blanket,” Keith suggested, chuckling as he led a still tittering Lance to the cozy layout. They settled on the blanket and Keith grabbed a pillow to put in his lap. He leaned back in, but Lance put a finger on his lips and lightly pushed him back. 

“First, I want to give you this,” Lance explained, presenting him with a small wrapped present- probably what he had gone to fetch from the other room. 

“Lovely wrapping. I’m assuming you got Romelle to do it for you?” Keith asked, smirking, 

“Hey!” Lance protested. “For your information, I’m a pro at gift-wrapping. I was actually the McClain family aficionado on the subject.” 

“Sure, sure,” Keith said as he tore the wrapping off the gift. Inside was a small red box with a blue lid. “Aw, babe, it’s our colors!”

“Open it!” Lance urged. 

Keith removed the lid. Inside the box sat two charms, linked in the middle to create a paladin crest, similar to the ones displayed on the breastplate of their paladin armor. One charm was blue, the other was red, and they were both plated in gold. Keith took in a breath and lifted them gingerly from their silken cushioning. 

“Where did you find these?” Keith asked, breathless. 

“I made them, actually. With some help from Coran, who actually knows a surprising amount about goldsmithing.” 

“Lance, they’re gorgeous. I don’t know what to say.” 

Lance shrugged nonchalantly, but his face was flushed. “I thought it would be cute for us to match.” 

“Well, you were right.” Keith gave Lance a peck on the lips and slipped the blue charm necklace over his head, then put the red one over his own. “Thank you.”

Lance beamed. “Do you think your students will make fun of you?”

“Are you kidding? I’m never going to let them see this. I’ll never hear the end of it.. You should have heard them when they first saw my wedding ring. I couldn’t get a single lesson in all day, for all the questions they asked me. They all wanted to be the flower girls and boys, you know. I told them they were a little too old for that, and they didn’t care.” Keith shook his head and chuckled. “They’re all great kids, just too invested in my personal life.” 

Lance laughed and leaned back onto a cluster of pillows, gesturing for Keith to put his head in his lap. He did, and Lance began absentmindedly carding his fingers through Keith’s hair. They stayed like that, content with being quiet and watching the stars for a while. 

Finally, Lance tapped Keith’s nose. “What did you wish for before blowing out the candles?”

“If I tell you, it won’t come true.” 

“That’s just superstition. Unless you don’t want to tell me, which is okay too-”

“No, it’s fine. It was simple anyway. I wished to spend my life as close to as happy as I was that moment.” 

Lance was silent for a moment. “How’s that going for you so far?” 

Keith propped himself up on his elbows and pressed a kiss to Lance’s lips, then pulled back and smiled softly. “With you? It’s going great.”

High above them, the stars twinkled. 

**Author's Note:**

> sorry for the cheesiness, lmaooo- is this what writing fluff is like?? 
> 
> please consider dropping a kudos or a comment letting me know what you thought! <3


End file.
